Democratic centralism is the name given to the
principles of internal organization used by
Leninist political parties, and the term is
sometimes used as a synonym for any Leninist policy inside a
political party. The
democratic
aspect of this organizational method describes the freedom of
members of the political party to discuss and debate matters of
policy and direction, but once the decision of the party is made by
majority vote, all members are
expected to uphold that decision. This latter aspect represents the
centralism. As Lenin described
it, democratic centralism consisted of "freedom of discussion,
unity of action."
Leninist organizations' constitutions have typically defined the
following key principles of democratic centralism:
- Election of all party organs from bottom to top and systematic
renewal of their composition, if needed.
- Responsibility of party structures to both lower and upper
structures.
- Strict and conscious discipline in the party—the minority must
follow the majority decisions until such time as the policy is
changed.
- Decisions of upper structures are mandatory for the lower
structures.
- Cooperation of all party organs in a collective manner at all
times, and correspondingly, personal responsibility of party
members for the assignments given to them and for the assignments
they themselves create.
The text
What Is to Be
Done? from 1902 is popularly seen as the founding text of
democratic centralism. At this time, democratic centralism was
generally viewed as a set of principles for the organizing of a
revolutionary workers' party.
However, Lenin's model for such a party,
which he repeatedly discussed as being "democratic centralist", was
the German
Social Democratic Party,
inspired by remarks made by the social-democrat Jean Baptista von
Schweitzer.
The doctrine of democratic centralism served as one of the sources
of the split between the
Bolsheviks and
the
Mensheviks. The Mensheviks supported a
looser
party discipline within the
Russian Social Democratic Labor Party in 1903,
as did
Leon Trotsky, in
Our
Political Tasks, although Trotsky joined ranks with the
Bolsheviks in 1917.
After the rise of
Joseph Stalin and
the introduction of
Marxism-Leninism as the official doctrine
of the Soviet Union, the meaning of democratic centralism began to
change. Democratic centralism was for instance described in the
1977 Soviet Constitution as
a principle for organizing the state: "The Soviet state is
organized and functions on the principle of democratic centralism,
namely the electiveness of all bodies of state authority from the
lowest to the highest, their accountability to the people, and the
obligation of lower bodies to observe the decisions of higher ones.
Democratic centralism combines central leadership with local
initiative and creative activity and with the responsibility of the
each state body and official for the work entrusted to them." This
was however in action contrary to the Leninist concept of
democratic centralism, as all forms of democratic debate and
organized opposition to the Communist Party officialdom was at this
time illegal.
After the successful consolidation of power by the Communist Party
following the
Russian
Revolution of 1917 and the
Russian
Civil War, the Bolshevik leadership, including Lenin,
instituted a ban on factions within the party as Resolution No. 12
of the 10th Party Congress in 1921. It was passed in the morning
session on March 16, 1921 (Protokoly 585-7). Supporters of Trotsky
sometimes claim that this ban was intended to be temporary. But
there is no language in the discussion at the 10th Party Congress
suggesting that it was intended to be temporary (Protokoly
523-548).
See also
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